When I connected my TV to my Radeon HD 5770 using the HDMI port, the TV showed a blurry picture with a 2-3cm border around it. This is not the case when using the proprietary driver. However, this protection against overscanning (see [[Wikipedia:Overscan]]) can be turned off using xrandr:

When I connected my TV to my Radeon HD 5770 using the HDMI port, the TV showed a blurry picture with a 2-3cm border around it. This is not the case when using the proprietary driver. However, this protection against overscanning (see [[Wikipedia:Overscan]]) can be turned off using xrandr:

xrandr --output HDMI-0 --set underscan off

xrandr --output HDMI-0 --set underscan off

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=== Black screen with mouse cursor on resume from suspend in X ===

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Waking from suspend on cards with 32MB or less can result in a black screen with a mouse pointer in X. Some parts of the screen may be redrawn when under the mouse cursor. Forcing {{ic|EXAPixmaps}} to {{ic|"enabled"}} in {{ic|/etc/X11/xorg.conf.d/20-radeon.conf}} may fix the problem. See [[#Performance_tuning|performance tuning]] for more information.

The open source driver is currently not on par with the proprietary driver in terms of 3D performance on newer cards or reliable TV-out support. It does, however, offer better dual-head support, excellent 2D acceleration, and provide sufficient 3D acceleration for OpenGL-accelerated window managers, such as Compiz or KWin.

If unsure, try the open source driver first, it will suit most needs and is generally less problematic (see the feature matrix for details).

Naming conventions

ATI's Radeon brand follows a naming scheme that relates each product to a market segment. Within this article, readers will see both product names (e.g. HD 4850, X1900) and code or core names (e.g. RV770, R580). Traditionally, a product series will correspond to a core series (e.g. the "X1000" product series includes the X1300, X1600, X1800, and X1900 products which utilize the "R500" core series – including the RV515, RV530, R520, and R580 cores).

Overview

Works with Radeon chipsets up to HD 6xxx and 7xxxM (latest Northern Islands chipsets).

Radeons up to the X1xxx series are fully supported, stable, and full 2D and 3D acceleration are provided.

Radeons from HD 2xxx to HD 6xxx have full 2D acceleration and functional 3D acceleration, but are not supported by all the features that the proprietary driver provides (for example, powersaving is still in a testing phase).

Warning: You may need to use pacman -Rdd to remove catalyst-utilsAUR (and/or lib32-catalyst-utilsAUR) because that package contains gl related files and many of your installed packages depend on them.

Note: You should remove unofficial reporitories which are menitoned in ATI Catalyst wiki page from your /etc/pacman.conf and run pacman -Syu. Because, those repositories include out-dated Xorg packages to allow use of catalyst and xf86-video-ati package needs up-to-date Xorg packages from Official repositories

Also follow these steps:

If you have a /etc/modprobe.d/blacklist-radeon.conf file remove it or comment the line blacklist radeon in that file.

Make sure to remove the old /etc/X11/xorg.conf

If you have installed catalyst-hookAUR package, make sure to remove fglrx from "HOOKS" array of /etc/mkinitcipo.conf in case if post-removal script of the package don't work.

If you have installed catalyst-generatorAUR package, make sure to remove "fglrx" from "MODULES" array of /etc/rc.conf in case if post-removal script of the package don't work.

If you have installed catalyst-daemonAUR package, make sure to remove "autofglrx" from "DAEMONS" array of /etc/rc.conf in case if post-removal script of the package don't work.

If you used "nomodeset" option in your configuration file in kernel parameters line and plan to use KMS, remove it.

Enabling KMS

Early KMS start

If you have a special kernel (e.g. linux-zen), remember to use appropriate mkinitcpio configuration file, e.g. /etc/mkinitcpio-zen.conf. These instructions are written for the default kernel (linux).

Remove all vga= options from the kernel line in the bootloader configuration file. Using other framebuffer drivers (such as uvesafb or radeonfb) will conflict with KMS. Remove any framebuffer related modules from /etc/mkinitcpio.conf. video= can now be used in conjunction with KMS.

Add radeon to MODULES array in /etc/mkinitcpio.conf. For AGP support, it is necessary to add intel_agp (or ali_agp, ati_agp, amd_agp, amd64_agp etc.) before the radeon module.

Re-generate your initramfs: # mkinitcpio -p linux

AGP speed can be set with radeon.agpmode=x kernel option, where x is 1, 2, 4, 8 (AGP speed) or -1 (PCI mode).

Reboot the system.

Late start

With this choice, KMS will be enabled when modules are loaded during the boot process.

If you have a special kernel (e.g. linux-zen), remember to use appropriate mkinitcpio configuration file, e.g. /etc/mkinitcpio-zen.conf. These instructions are written for the default kernel (linux).

Remove all vga= options from the kernel line in the bootloader configuration file. Using other framebuffer drivers (such as uvesafb or radeonfb) will conflict with KMS. Remove any framebuffer related modules from /etc/mkinitcpio.conf. video= can now be used in conjunction with KMS.

Add radeon to MODULES array in /etc/rc.conf. For AGP support, it may be necessary to add intel_agp (or ali_agp, ati_agp, amd_agp, amd64_agp etc.) before the radeon module.

Alternatively, module options can be specified in a file within the /etc/modprobe.d directory. If using the radeon module (lsmod | grep radeon) disable KMS by creating a file containing the above code:

/etc/modprobe.d/radeon.conf

options radeon modeset=0

Renaming xorg.conf

Renaming /etc/X11/xorg.conf, which may include options that conflict with KMS, will force Xorg to autodetect hardware with sane defaults. After renaming, restart Xorg.

Performance tuning

The following options apply to /etc/X11/xorg.conf.d/20-radeon.conf.

By design, xf86-video-ati runs at AGP 4x speed. It is generally safe to modify this. If you notice hangs, try reducing the value or removing the line entirely (you can use values 1, 2, 4, 8). If KMS is enabled, this option is not used and it is superseded by radeon.agpmode kernel option.

Option "AGPMode" "8"

ColorTiling is completely safe to enable and supposedly is enabled by default. Most users will notice increased performance but it is not yet supported on R200 and earlier cards. Can be enabled on earlier cards, but the workload is transferred to the CPU

Option "ColorTiling" "on"

Acceleration architecture; this will work only on newer cards. If you enable this and then cannot get back into X, remove it.

Option "AccelMethod" "EXA"

Page Flip is generally safe to enable. This would mostly be used on older cards, as enabling this would disable EXA. With recent drivers can be used together with EXA.

Option "EnablePageFlip" "on"

AGPFastWrite will enable fast writes for AGP cards. This one can cause instabilities, so be prepared to remove it if you cannot get into X. This option is not used when KMS is on.

Option "AGPFastWrite" "yes"

EXAVSync option attempts to avoid tearing by stalling the engine until the display controller has passed the destination region. It reduces tearing at the cost of performance and has been know to cause instability on some chips.
Really useful when enabling Xv overlay on videos on a 3D accelerated desktop. It is not necessary when KMS (thus DRI2 acceleration) is enabled.

Option "EXAVSync" "yes"

Bellow is a sample config file /etc/X11/xorg.conf.d/20-radeon.conf:

Section "Device"
Identifier "My Graphics Card"
Option "AGPMode" "8" #not used when KMS is on
Option "AGPFastWrite" "off" #could cause instabilities enable it at your own risk
Option "SWcursor" "off" #software cursor might be necessary on some rare occasions, hence set off by default
Option "EnablePageFlip" "on" #supported on all R/RV/RS4xx and older hardware and set off by default
Option "AccelMethod" "EXA" #valid options are XAA and EXA. EXA is the newest acceleration method and it is the default.
Option "RenderAccel" "on" #enabled by default on all radeon hardware
Option "ColorTiling" "on" #enabled by default on RV300 and later radeon cards.
Option "EXAVSync" "off" #default is off, otherwise on
Option "EXAPixmaps" "on" #when on icreases 2D performance, but may also cause artifacts on some old cards
Option "AccelDFS" "on" #default is off, read the radeon manpage for more information
EndSection

Defining the gartsize, if not autodetected, can be done by adding radeon.gartsize=32 into kernel parameters. Size is in megabytes and 32 is for RV280 cards.

Alternatively, do it with a modprobe option in /etc/modprobe.d/radeon.conf:

options radeon gartsize=32

For further information and other options, read the radeon manpage and the module's info page:

man radeon

modinfo radeon

A fine tool to try is driconf. It will allow you to modify several settings, like vsync, anisotropic filtering, texture compression, etc. Using this tool it is also possible to "disable Low Impact fallback" needed by some programs (e.g. Google Earth).

Activate PCI-E 2.0

Can be unstable with some motherboards or not produce any performarce, test yourself adding "radeon.pcie_gen2=1" on the kernel command line.

Note: 2012-10-01: As for 3.6 kernel, PCI-E 2.0 in radeon seems to be turned on by-default. Note may be edited after more detailed check.

Powersaving

With KMS enabled

With the radeon driver, power saving is disabled by default but the stock kernel (2.6.35 as of this writing) provides a "sysfs" utility to enable it.

Power saving through KMS is still a work in progress for the most part. It should work, but some chips do have problems with it. A common issue for all is screen blinking when the kernel switches between power states, and in some configurations it even causes system freezes. But KMS is awesome, so it is your choice. The UMS method is generally more stable, however its power savings might not be as good as those provided by KMS options.

There are two ways to enable power management:

Try adding radeon.dynpm=1 to the Kernel parameters (if using the stock kernel < 2.6.35). If you are using Linux kernel >= 2.6.35 this option is no longer needed and the sysfs interface will be present by default. If this option is passed to a kernel >= 2.6.35, the driver will fail and fall back to software rendering.

Use the (unsupported) [radeon] repo:

This repository will grant you up-to-date packages of the radeon driver and its dependencies, from (mostly) git snapshots.

The "dynpm" method dynamically changes the clocks based on the number of pending fences, so performance is ramped up when running GPU intensive apps, and ramped down when the GPU is idle. The re-clocking is attempted during vertical blanking periods, but due to the timing of the re-clocking functions, does not always complete in the blanking period, which can lead to flicker in the display. Due to this, dynpm only works when a single head is active.

Note: The "profile" method mentioned below is not as aggressive as "dynpm," but is currently much more stable and flicker free and works with multiple heads active.

2. Profile-based frequency switching

# echo profile > /sys/class/drm/card0/device/power_method

The "profile" mode will allow you to select one of the five profiles below.
Different profiles, for the most part, end up changing the frequency/voltage of the card.

"default" uses the default clocks and does not change the power state. This is the default behavior.

"auto" selects between "mid" and "high" power states based on the whether the system is on battery power or not. The "low" power state are selected when the monitors are in the dpms off state.

"low" forces the gpu to be in the low power state all the time. Note that "low" can cause display problems on some laptops; this is why auto only uses "low" when displays are off.

"mid" forces the gpu to be in the "mid" power state all the time. The "low" power state is selected when the monitors are in the dpms off state.

"high" forces the gpu to be in the "high" power state all the time. The "low" power state is selected when the monitors are in the dpms off state.

So lets say we want the "low" option...for this, run the following command:

# echo low > /sys/class/drm/card0/device/power_profile

Replace "low" with any of the aforementioned profiles as necessary.

Note: Echoing a profile value to this file is not permanent, so when you find something that fits your needs, you will need to add it to /etc/rc.local, so it is executed at system startup, in case you are using initscripts. In case of using systemd there will be no /etc/rc.local file, you can use following udev rule:

It depends on which GPU line yours is, however. Along with the radeon driver versions, kernel versions, etc. So it may not have much/any voltage regulation at all.

Thermal sensors are implemented via external i2c chips or via the internal thermal sensor (rv6xx-evergreen only). To get the temperature on asics that use i2c chips, you need to load the appropriate hwmon driver for the sensor used on your board (lm63, lm64, etc.). The drm will attempt to load the appropriate hwmon driver. On boards that use the internal thermal sensor, the drm will set up the hwmon interface automatically. When the appropriate driver is loaded, the temperatures can be accessed via lm_sensors tools or via sysfs in /sys/class/hwmon .

HDMI Audio

xf86-video-ati can enable HDMI audio output for all supported chipsets up to r7xx when using KMS. Just use xrandr to enable the output and Test as described below.

Testing HDMI Audio

Connect your PC to the Display via HDMI cable.

Use xrandr to get picture to the Display, e.g.: xrandr --output DVI-D_1 --mode 1280x768 --right-of PANEL. Simply typing xrandr will give you a list of valid outputs.

Run aplay -l to get the list of sound devices. Find HDMI and note the card number and corresponding device number. Example of what you want to see: card 1: HDMI [HDA ATI HDMI], device 3: ATI HDMI [ATI HDMI]

Try sending sound to this device: aplay -D plughw:1,3 /usr/share/sounds/alsa/Front_Center.wav. Be sure to change plughw:z,y to match the hardware number found with last command. You should be able to hear the test sound from the display.

The audio module is disabled by default in kernel >=3.0. Add radeon.audio=1 to the Kernel parameters.

If the sound is distorted try setting tsched=0 and make sure rtkit daemon is running.

Dual Head Setup

Independent X Screens

Independent dual-headed setups can be configured the usual way. However you might want to know that the radeon driver has a "ZaphodHeads" option which allows you to bind a specific device section to an output of your choice, for instance using:

This can be a life-saver, because some cards which have more than two outputs (for instance one HDMI out, one DVI, one VGA), will only select and use HDMI+DVI outputs for the dual-head setup, unless you explicitely specify "ZaphodHeads" "VGA-0".

Moreover, this option allows you to easily select the screen you want to mark as primary.

Troubleshooting

Artifacts upon logging in

If encountering artifacts, first try starting X without /etc/X11/xorg.conf. Recent versions of Xorg are capable of reliable auto-detection and auto-configuration for most use cases. Outdated or improperly configured xorg.conf files are known to cause trouble.

In order to run without a configuration tile, it is recommended that the xorg-input-drivers package group be installed.

If your card is not supported by KMS (anything older than r100), then you can disable KMS. This should fix the problem.

AGP is disabled (with KMS)

If you experience poor performance and dmesg shows something like this

[drm:radeon_agp_init] *ERROR* Unable to acquire AGP: -19

then check if the agp driver for your motherboard (e.g., via_agp, intel_agp etc.) is loaded before the radeon module, see Enabling KMS.

TV showing a black border around the screen

When I connected my TV to my Radeon HD 5770 using the HDMI port, the TV showed a blurry picture with a 2-3cm border around it. This is not the case when using the proprietary driver. However, this protection against overscanning (see Wikipedia:Overscan) can be turned off using xrandr:

xrandr --output HDMI-0 --set underscan off

Black screen with mouse cursor on resume from suspend in X

Waking from suspend on cards with 32MB or less can result in a black screen with a mouse pointer in X. Some parts of the screen may be redrawn when under the mouse cursor. Forcing EXAPixmaps to "enabled" in /etc/X11/xorg.conf.d/20-radeon.conf may fix the problem. See performance tuning for more information.

No Desktop Effects in KDE4 with X1300 and Radeon Driver

A bug in KDE4 may prevent an accurate video hardware check, thereby deactivating desktop effects despite the X1300 having more than sufficient GPU power. A workaround may be to manually override such checks in KDE4 configuration files /usr/share/kde-settings/kde-profile/default/share/config/kwinrc and/or .kde/share/config/kwinrc.

Add:

DisableChecks=true

To the [Compositing] section. Ensure that compositing is enabled with:

Enabled=true

Black screen and no console, but X works in KMS

This is a solution to no-console problem that might come up, when using two or more ATI cards on the same PC. Fujitsu Siemens Amilo PA 3553 laptop for example has this problem. This is due to fbcon console driver mapping itself to wrong framebuffer device that exist on the wrong card. This can be fixed by adding a this to the kernel boot line:

fbcon=map:1

This will tell the fbcon to map itself to the /dev/fb1 framebuffer dev and not the /dev/fb0, that in our case exist on the wrong graphics card.

Some 3D applications show textures as all black or crash

You might need texture compression support, which is not included with the open source driver. Install libtxc_dxtn (and lib32-libtxc_dxtn for multilib systems).

2D performance (e.g. scrolling) is slow

If you have problem with 2D performance, like scrolling in terminal or browser, you might need to add Option "MigrationHeuristic" "greedy" into the "Device" section of your xorg.conf file.

The bug :With the graphical chipset Xpress 200M Series (Radeon Xpress 1150), booting with KMS gives you sometimes, as soon as Xorg boots, a screen with many vertical colored stripes. You cannot Alt+Sys+K or do anything. Take a look [1] for more information,
How to fixed ? : disable dri (needn't to disable kms)
Side effert: if i disable "dri" and use no kernel options (no "nomodeset") i see the vertical stripes at boot, only for 5 seconds, before having kdm displayed. Then, i have the same results.

If I start for example KDE Desktop Effects, i will see again the vertical stripes for 5 seconds...and return to kdm ! :)